Thursday, January 22, 2004

R.U.
Sirius, who has an impressive track record of spotting cultural and
technological trends years before the rest of the media pick up on it,
has posted an interview with me on his neofiles Webzine. Mr. Sirius gave me tons of room to rant and gussied it up with
some very pretty pictures. R.U. gave me the chance to expand on what it
is I'm trying to accomplish on this blog and in some of my other work.
Here's a clip:

NEOFILES: Howard, you’re one of the main editors of a
daily webzine dedicated to the nanotech industry and then you do a nano
blog besides. How did you become so obsessed with nanotechnology and
what sustains your obviously intense interest?

HOWARD LOVY: Well, like most journalists, I’m an
expert
at nothing myself, except maybe at describing, in understandable terms,
what the real experts are up to. I spent most of my career as a
general-interest newspaper journalist, but also wrote a great deal
about Jewish and Mideast issues. My personal background gave me some
genetic insight into the topic, but writing about it also allowed me to
take a look at any issue from the perspective of an “outsider,” making
me naturally question the base assumptions that motivate any society,
culture, government or majority opinion. So, my natural inclination is
to look at any issue of public concern — especially ones in which there
appears to be a monolithic opinion — and find those who begin with a
whole different set of assumptions or beliefs. I’ve always thought that
was the role of journalism — not to confirm for the majority what they
already believe, but to make them constantly question their own
assumptions by exposing them to the minority opinion. That’s the only
way a free society can be certain it’s making the right decisions, by
being forced to defend it. ...

So, I launched Howard Lovy’s NanoBot in the summer of
2003, and I’m just amazed at how widely it’s being read and how
influential it’s becoming. That tells me there’s a hunger for this
perspective on nanotech — not only the financial aspects — and I’ll
keep using it to question, prod and annoy those who believe they know
everything there is to know about it.